The journey has ended… What felt like an eternity was only a couple of months, and yet nothing has changed. My cities are just as prosperous, my armies just as strong… and our cattle remained subservient.
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Kai’s breathing quickened as he stared at the beast right down its throat, and a cold shiver ran down his spine as he gulped. The closest he’d been to such a gigantic beast was the bear his grandpa had made him fight, however, the powerful pressure the beast before him exuded was like comparing a firefly to the moon. The blade trembled in his arms, however, he didn’t back down despite his entire body telling him to do so. Instead, he glanced at Onyx and smiled briefly upon seeing his companion’s care.
Ugh, I barely have any energy to hold the sword… What bad timing! Kai cursed internally. However, before he could even think or react, the beast’s wide mouth lunged directly at him. It shadowed his tiny figure, and he could only widen his eyes as he almost saw death flash right before his eyes.
~Graaaah~ He took a step backward as soon as he recovered, awoken by the beast’s pitiful cry. Kai let out a soft gasp upon seeing Onyx hanging by the creature’s neck, having bit it. Much to his surprise, though, no blood trickled down. The beast raised its head, and Onyx along with it, then shook furiously in an attempt to get the Obborik off.
Onyx, however, held on strong despite the creature’s best attempt at getting rid of him.
Without hesitation, Kai dashed straight at the beast, slashing toward its legs at a diagonal angle. However, as soon as the sword made contact with the thing’s skin, it sent a shockwave from the blade up the hilt, and then to Kai’s body. He jumped backward, almost losing his grip on the sword, and thought as he stared at his trembling hands. Did I just hit a piece of stone?!
Quickly retreating, he whistled toward Onyx. The Obborik instantly let go and jumped off, rushing over to Kai’s side. The creature, upon feeling its head getting lighter, fell back down on all fours. It glared at Onyx with an ugly expression and snarled at both him and Kai.
The boy’s grip on the sword loosened for a second, allowing it to fall by a couple of millimeters before gripping it tightly once again. A small bead of sweat dripped down his forehead, although nobody could see it.
Damn it! He cursed as he let out a heavy sigh, and he looked around, hoping to find someone to help him. Looking at the adventurers, whose expressions varied between terror, excitement, or scorn, and the onlookers who couldn’t even be bothered to call for help, Kai’s mixed bag of emotions soon turned to nothing but anger. These bastards, they’re simply looking at me, like I’m some kind of spectacle! Is this not their home?
Glancing back at Karfi, his anger subsided a little upon seeing the three standing by the door. Tausi hid behind both Natasha and her dad, grasping at his pants while looking at the scene with a terrified expression. Despite that, he couldn’t help but feel slightly betrayed by the entirety of the onlookers, who couldn’t be bothered to send for the city guards, who seemed to be sleeping on their job.
More than that, however, the sun began rising, which only spelled disaster for Kai. It wouldn’t be long before it showed its first rays, at which point he would be forced to flee, lest he wanted to perish.
Facing the beast once again, and staring at the parts where both he and Onyx tried wounding it, he came to a dreadful conclusion. Physical attacks don’t work on it… at least not in my current state. Damn it, I’m not even sure magic works on it, but I have no way to try anyway. This is bad, really bad! He complained internally, however knew that there was absolutely nothing he could do about it right now.
Think, magic… What sort of magic do I have that doesn’t use any mana…? Ugh… zero. Kai’s spirits fell upon realizing that he had nothing that could hurt the beast and that all he could do was stall for time until help arrived… if it ever did.
Bitter, he readied his sword in an attempt to make himself look bigger and more threatening and stared down at the beast. Why is it here? This seems fishy… However, as much as he wanted to know the answer to these questions, the animal wouldn’t give him the chance. With a quick lunge, it appeared right in front of Kai, biting at his neck.
With a quick parry, he stopped the rotten teeth from piercing his flesh, and in the same timeframe, Onyx unleashed a strong gust of wind, knocking both the beast and Kai to the ground.
The boy quickly jumped back, putting some distance between him and the creature. His heart beat like a drum, threatening to jump out of his chest after the sudden attack. Damn it, I can’t keep this up too long, this thing is angry!
Kai’s body trembled at the prospect of getting killed by a beast he knew nothing about, even more so with so many people surrounding him. However, none of them showed any desire to help him, neither his friends nor the strangers he always saw at the guild headquarters. That is, besides Onyx, of course. Taking in a deep breath, he glanced at the Obborik with a soft smile. Deep inside he knew that Karfi and Natasha couldn’t do much to help him, but that didn’t excuse the other adventurers.
The beast’s mouth opened once again, brandishing his sharp teeth at Kai as if that was the only move it knew. However, Kai didn’t immediately get scared or retreat right away this time. Instead, he examined the creature, hoping that there’d be some kind of hidden weakness he didn’t notice.
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He grit his teeth and watched the thing rise on its hind legs, lunging with its wide jaw toward him in an attempt to eat him like a serpent. His pupils widened as he watched the literal jaws of death descend toward him. However, his eyes glistened with a faint light upon seeing a small, flesh wound to the side of its mouth, where Onyx’s wind blast had hit it.
Of course!
Without hesitation, he pulled the last of his available mana and took out a couple of fire stones from within his ring. With a quick half-step forward, he threw the crystals up, then hit them with a determined swing of his sword. They exploded only a couple of centimeters away from the beast’s jaw, prompting a gut-wrenching scream to escape its mouth as it tumbled backward. A black spring of blood shot out from the thing’s mouth, however its figure disappeared almost instantly. It left, running away and leaving a trail of blood which quickly faded away.
A short sigh of relief escaped Kai’s body as he fainted, his clothes burning up and turning to ash as he fell limp. His entire world turned to black, and a comforting warmth enveloped him as darkness took over his vision and he fell unconscious.
…
Kai stretched as he woke up, a soft groan escaping his mouth, followed by a louder ‘Ouch’. He took off the blanket covering his body and found himself not naked, but covered in bandages from head to toe. Well isn’t this Deja Vu… He chuckled to himself, and felt his face, making sure his mask was still in place.
Letting out a light sigh of relief upon finding it in place, he remarked that its usual smooth surface turned to a more carbonic… burnt wood texture. Ah… I must have gotten caught in the explosion, damn it… Crying internally at the revelation, he now understood better why so much of his body began to itch.
The itching sensation spread from his right arm towards his chest, akin to a thousand ants marching up and down his body. Scratching it did nothing, but instead made it worse. Even thinking about it made it worse, so he decided to distract himself.
As usual, the room was empty, yet well isolated from the harsh rays of the sun and moon, only this time a table had appeared by his bedside, upon which rested several bandage rolls and ointments. Natasha must have set this all up… it’s the second time she had to patch me up. He let out a sigh and rolled out of bed, ignoring the burning pain spreading throughout his body as he did so. After making sure that the mask sat well on his face, and putting on some clothes, he walked out of the room, toward the main bar area.
As soon as he stepped through the door, an intense, almost intoxicating smell of alcohol inundated his nostrils, making him take a step back. He blinked a few times, and finally took in the sight of Karfi’s bar - an empty place more often than not - now filled to the brim with clients. Their laughter and happy chatter bounced off the walls, fully landing in Kai’s ears as nothing more than a cacophony of voices.
“Ah, Ichor, you’re finally awake!” A familiar voice rang in Kai’s mind, and, as he turned, Onyx’s large figure quickly covered his entire field of view. With a quick lick and a light push, Kai found himself on the cold floor, held down by the Obborik’s small, yet heavy body.
“Boy get do-” Kai protested, however, a sharp, intense pain spreading over his body stopped him from finishing his sentence. Luckily, Karfi and Natasha rushed over, the former grabbing Onyx off of Kai.
The woman quickly lifted the boy and brushed the dust off his clothes before checking his bandages.
“Phew,” she sighed, relieved. “Looks like your wounds didn’t open up… again.”
Kai chuckled awkwardly as he stood up, and a sudden tightness formed around his legs not long after. Looking down, he saw Tausi’s small figure snuggling on his torn clothes. He smiled softly and patted her little head, then lifted his eyes.
“What’s going on?” He asked Karfi, who looked at him with a complicated expression. “How come there are so many people?”
“Well, the thing is… erm…” Karfi tried explaining the situation, however, all that came out of his mouth was an indecipherable jumble.
“Lots of people saw Aunty Natasha bring you inside and they followed!” Tausi’s squeaky, innocent voice interrupted her father, and told the truth outright without beating around the bush.
Kai paused for a second, surprised by the sudden news, before letting out a faint chuckle. “I see, haha”
“What’s more surprising is that they’ve come back even after three days… you must be really popular now,” Natasha added with a slight smirk.
“Three days?! I’ve been sleeping for three days?!”
“Yes, your body must have been really exhausted. Boy, what the hell did you do after you left unannounced? You come back all broken and bruised, fight a giant… something, and then collapse all burnt. Do you like getting hurt that much?!”
Kai choked on air upon hearing Natasha’s nagging, getting a familiar feeling from listening to her talk about how much he got hurt. Ah…this is too much deja vu.
“A-Anyway… we should go inside,” Natasha said, opening the door toward the house side of the bar, inviting everyone but Karfi in. Tausi, Onyx, and Kai quickly made their way inside, followed by the woman. The door closed with a soft click behind her, and she sat down on the couch with a light sigh.
“This whole ordeal has been exhausting… I'll tell you that much.”
“Oh?” Kai groaned as he too, sat down. “How come?”
“Boy, after you fainted, the city guards arrived and asked us what all the commotion was about. We explained what you saw, who you were, and all that, then got you inside. Goddess Lumiera, when I saw your body I thought I was about to faint… thankfully you heal really fast otherwise you’d be bedridden for weeks! After patching you up Karfi saw an increase in clientele after people somehow just now discovered this building here was a bar as well, plus the publicity of you making a creature five times your size running away… ah so much stuff, I had to serve as a nurse and bartender…”
Kai sat and listened to Natasha give a short resume of the past three days, and the more he heard, the dizzier he got. “It seems I’ve caused you a fair bit of trouble again.”
“Oh no, not at all! I’m a doctor, this is what I do. Don’t worry your head with that.” She said reassuringly, then pulled out a bottle from her ring, then took small sips.
“Is that… alcohol?”
“Uhm… Yes. Why, you want some?”
“I…” Kai thought about it for a second, then remembered the last time he drank alcohol, then decided against it. “I’m good…” How could she drink alcohol at this time… what time is it actually?
His question was soon answered, however, by Karfi’s entrance. As the man’s exhausted voice left his mouth, beads of sweat trailed down his forehead. “Natasha… I need your help, please. These guys won’t stop ordering alcohol… and I’m also running low on supply!”
With a sigh, the woman in question stood up, wiped some booze off her lips, then spoke. “So… Tell them you’re out, it’s almost morning anyway.”
“But…”
“No buts, man, just go…” She said lazily and sat back down without waiting for Karfi to speak another word.
“F… fine.”